The inclination is evident if one looks at the statistics of Agriculture department.
Every year 16,300 hectare land is sown with sunflower seeds in Chikmagalur and Kadur taluks but this year the area has shrunk to 4,710 hectare.
The situation is the same in Ambale and Lakya hoblis of Chikmagalur taluk, which had highest areas of sunflower cultivation. Potato cultivation is being done in large areas in Kasaba while jowar has been sown in several other areas of the plains.
Last year jowar was sown in 9,370 hectare of land area but this year, it has increased to 12,315 hectare. The official say that there are all possibilities of this number shooting up.
Even Horticulture Department has confirmed that sunflower has been overshadowed by Ginger and potato. A sprawling 1,500 hectare of land are under ginger cultivation in the plains in the district this year, as against the 700 hectare cultivated last year. Last year, 3,000 hectare land area was cultivated with potato last year which has increased to 4,000 hectare this year.
All in all, there has been a steep decline in cultivation of oil crops like Sunflower, sesame, groundnut, mustard, soya bean etc. Every year 30,880 hectare of oil seeds are cultivated in the district but this year the cultivation area has gone down to 27,378 hectare.
